How to tile a fireplace surround?

md3

Hi. I am looking to tile two areas around fireplaces . I am using a ceramic tile , crazy pave style . One is an existing fireplace and I need to put the tiles on painted fire stop plasterboard . The other area is a painted gyprock plaster wall . What do I need to prep the areas with and is there a special adhesive I need for the fire stop / plaster wall? Many thanks 

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @md3. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about tiling over painted plasterboard.

If it is an acrylic paint, then you could prime the surface with Sikatile-015, which we would need to order for you through our Special Order team. The only other option would be to clad the wall with new cement or unpainted plasterboard and prepare it with Davco PrimeX. You can then use standard wall tile adhesive such as Davco 20kg Ultraflex Ceramic Tile Adhesive.

Provided the Fire Stop plasterboard is not in a high-temp zone, standard tile adhesive is fine when following the above methods.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell